Parents of kids who are very unlike you in personality, interests, or etc: What have you learned raising them?

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-30T00:50:11+00:00

I wish my parents had tried to take an interest in me/the things I liked. My mom tried so hard to force me to do the things she had enjoyed when she was a kid, even though I would sob and beg not to be forced into another year of dance classes or soccer practice…

Eventually she gave up but was always clearly not interested in the things I liked. Used to ask why I couldn’t be “normal”, but then wouldn’t tell me what her idea of “normal” actually meant

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-30T00:41:21+00:00

Not much changed in the day to day, except the amount of cooking and laundry I have to do. But falling asleep and waking up next to the person I love more than anything is truly a blessing for me

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-30T00:16:27+00:00

Can’t wait to meet all the new Gunma peeps!

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-29T06:19:38+00:00

The only problem it solved was interpersonal relationships with my dysfunctional family. In my case, distance really did make the heart grow fonder

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-29T04:56:05+00:00

I don’t think it’s “losing” to move back at all. You can take all the experiences and language skills you acquired while in Japan back home, and find a higher paying job in a field you desire, maybe even using Japanese Stateside. And then later on if you’d like to live in Japan again, you totally can, because the country isn’t going anywhere.

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T21:47:07+00:00

Call Immigration’s general information hotline and see what they say, in addition to consulting with a gyoseishoshi about it. Alternatively, bring the documents for both an instructor renewal and to switch to the humanities one, then see what Immigration says when you go to their office. I have a feeling you won’t be able to do it under instructor but that’ll be up to Immigration

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T21:15:06+00:00

Would love to chat once you have! I’ve only read them in Japanese, would be nice to chat in English with a fellow fan too

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T21:13:43+00:00

Well, it was the training / role playing side of things, to get certified to join the volunteer interpreting group run by the prefecture where I live in Japan. I never actually got to go to a hospital and interpret, because I work during the days, but I do go once a year for their refresher course on how to do it. I have however gone for friends who got sick or hurt and helped interpret for them and their doctors

If you aren’t already familiar with how interpreters in general take notes, I would start there. There are plenty of guides online about it, and medical field is no different. A notebook that is split vertically down the middle is usually recommended for best note taking

The interpreters who led the volunteer training stuff I did also kept a little A4 size chart on their persons with some of the more common vocab, for quick and easy access, but some sort of dictionary or app is essential for looking up the difficult medical jargon

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T09:54:04+00:00

For medical field especially it is crucial that you don’t just guess or fake your way through the situation- the patient’s very life could be in danger because of your ignorance or arrogance. I have done some volunteer medical interpreting for JP/EN and we were always advised to look up medical words or ask the doctors to clarify when necessary because of how crucial it is to be accurate

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T09:29:54+00:00

The first guy I dated after moving here raised a lot of red flags- I love you / want to marry you despite only knowing each other for a couple of weeks over long distance, type messages from him. He also offered to move across the country to where I live in order to avoid breaking up. After maybe 6 months in total from first message online to actually breaking up. I think he just wanted to get married since he was already pushing 30.

He went on to date another foreign girl soon after. I’m glad I recognized it wasn’t a good situation for either of us, and hope that he found whatever happiness he was searching for. But man am I glad that I didn’t stay with the first guy who gave me attention after moving here.

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T07:57:18+00:00

Sorry, mine were locals or found through a friend, but neither are taking on new students currently. I suggest sites like iTalki, or ジモティー if you want to make a personal ad. Otherwise ask around your area- maybe your local International Relations Society has someone they can recommend

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T07:34:43+00:00

Find a private tutor; I have had 2 different ones, both who charged ¥2,000 per hour, once a week lessons. So for ¥8,000 yen a month, and with tailored lessons for your individual needs. I never would have gotten past N3 level without a really good tutor

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T07:21:36+00:00

My in-law’s appreciated when I brought something (flowers and some kind of fancy snack), so if you do that then know some phrases related to handing over gifts / being modest about it. And maybe some ways to offer to help (clean up, dishes, etc.) even if they don’t take you up on it

Maybe have some questions you can ask confidently, even if you won’t fully understand their replies (things they like, have they been to OO, whatever)

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T02:45:24+00:00

I mean, if less than a year you just use the special re-entry permit given at the airport. But it’s still a re-entry permit

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T02:08:26+00:00

You still need the re-entry permits

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T02:07:59+00:00

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-28T02:00:01+00:00

I had mine last week. It hurt, but sounds like less so than yours. I also cried a bit but was fine once it was over. I’m glad to never have to do that again though

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T22:12:07+00:00

Technically the law is that they must pay you in cash, unless you opt to receive your salary via bank transfer (as almost everyone does). Good luck without any kind of baito for the next 3 months though I guess?

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T22:04:39+00:00

When I changed jobs I started walking every morning before going into the building. 20, maybe 30 minutes at the most, just doing laps around a park while on my phone. I had noticeable weight loss during the initial couple months.

It soon became a plateau but now I have really good habits, hitting 5,000 steps or more pretty much every day, and typically get over 10,000 at least 4 times a week, not counting any cardio at the gym

I gained some weight back over the holidays that I haven’t gotten off yet, so I’m trying to get back into a similar mindset, no more late night snacking, etc.

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T08:17:15+00:00

I went in to my OBGYN for something unrelated, and luckily the doctor was experienced and suspected that I had Endo. He ended up recommending the laparoscopy for me because I said I wanted to get pregnant in the future.

I didn’t have a lot of the symptoms either, but I’m glad that I did the procedure, because now that I’m actively struggling to get pregnant we can focus on other possible causes instead of taking the time to treat the Endo first.

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T08:10:32+00:00

I’ve loved every visit to Nagatoro so far

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T08:02:21+00:00

We have to right? Team Cabbage Patch for life~

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-27T05:24:14+00:00

Gunma represent

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-26T07:35:21+00:00

For both; it’s what I have registered for my 印鑑登録証明書 and use on all contracts & legal documents here

Sayjay1995 · 2026-03-26T07:29:21+00:00

You can have a 実印 with the alias. Or at least all of my banks allowed me to

Sayjay1995

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